As promised, my successful tapering off Effexor (Venlafaxine)

This schedule did not work for me. Was on 37 1:2 venlafaxine. Took me 2 years of counting beads. Counted every bead in every capsule.

I was on it for a year before tapering off it. I was pretty sick physically. I was vomiting and had terrible body aches. My brain had no filter. I was say things to people that I would never normally say. It was a scary experience. I don’t like that class of drugs and Cymbalta is in the same class of drugs. I take Zoloft now and I feel fine and I am happy I made the switch. It may not be so bad for you as you aren’t on a high dose I don’t think, I forget what my dosage was but it was pretty high. Do your research the other person who said they were counting beads is something a lot of people do when having a tough time weaning off.

I was on Venlafaxine XL for a year (150mg). I have successfully tapered down to 75mg and am now on 37.5mg - I then went to every other day of the 37.5 and am finally on every 3rd day. I have been stuck here for a while and can't seem to taper further. By the end of the 3rd day I feel very nauseated, have brain zaps and migraines - sensitivity to light and sound.

I will add that prior to taking Venlafaxine I was on Bupropion 300 mg for about 20 years. Switched to Venlafaxine after a very stressful life event where Bupropion was not helping.

I very much want to stop taking Venlafaxine. Should I go back to Bupropion?

I was on Bupropion XL 300mg for a really long time and I weaned off that and off Topiramate. It took a very long time, maybe 5 months or more. I stayed off for about 3-4 mo but my migraines were much worse without the Topiramate which helps the migraine meds work better and faster so I went back to 1/2 the dose I was on before and that has helped a lot. I also had no energy or desire to do anything so I went back to 1/2 dose of the Bupropion at 150mg which has been just OK. Today I am on day 3 of taking Bupropion 300mg again just to see if I feel better and I absolutely do. I wish I didn't need these meds but it seems I do.

You eat food to stay alive. You eat healthy food to be able to do more in life.
Same goes for meds. You take them to have a great life and experience everything you deserve. We can stop feeling lesser than bc we are living our best lives. Enjoy everyday and try to move the boundary and not think I wish I didn’t have to. You eat- you take meds and the world is a better place.

Hi- my daughter reminded me that it’s not my fault my brain chemistry is what it is. It’s not weakness or giving up - when the effects of these powerful drugs are real - and they are debilitating. in an effort to transition to Wellbutrin from Effexor my doc prescribed 150mg Wellbutrin (bupropion) to take as I tapered down from 150mg Venlafaxine XR. Moving down wasn’t so bad, but like you, when I tried to go off the 37.5 (which the lowest dose XR capsule) the effects bad. At the 24 hour point jolts were noticed and by 36 hours I was unable to walk. I had vertigo, zaps, whoosh sounds, nausea migraine - it was horrible.
So Dr now prescribed 25mg of the regular release - the lowest dose tablet form. There were no noticeable bad effects changing from capsule to tablet form. I’m now taking 1/2 tab, so 12.5mg in AM and 12 hours later I take the second 12.5mg. At this point I’m going to try cutting the 1/2 tab into a still smaller bit to lower the dose, but still take it 2x daily at 12 hours apart. Although I may try 1/3 tabs spaced 8 hours apart if I start to get jolts. I’m doing split pill routine this this week - I’ll write again to give progress. Depression is definitely coming back despite the 150mg Wellbutrin I’m feeling really angry and I have easily hurt feelings. good luck!

I was taking effexor for years and had no side effects. It helped me manage my depression. I was weaned off by my psychiatrist when my major depression returned. It took a long time to get off of it.

I am a 43yo female and have been taking Effexor XR for approx 1.5yrs. I have been at 225mg for the past 6m. I won't get too personal but will summarize to say I am a mom of 5 boys aging 27 to 7. I am currently working on my 2nd divorce and have realized I give too much. Between work, kids, no spousal support, COVID related family deaths I reached a breaking point. I am finally in a different environment and hate the fact I am dependent upon a pill. I have always been emotionally strong but age weakens more things than ur body I have found.

I have started my own tapering regimen after a lot of research. This is my 2nd attempt. My 1st attempt was MD suggested and monitored and was a complete DISASTER. Screwed me up so bad emotionally and physically that I ended up on a higher dose than BEFORE the MD guided taper attempt.
I am on wk2 of my own tapering regimen and have had very mild symptoms so far. I realized that caffeine can make the anxiety worse so I cut back on that and completely off after 3pm when I am more likely to have anxiety. Mind you I am on an XR pill so the half life is different.
I cut at 37.5 mg each week and my wk2 is 150mg. I have found that by day 3-4 of the lesser dosage is when the w/d symptoms emerge. Maybe because of the XR...IDK. I have also researched that Effexor is 87-90% secreted via the bladder w/in 72hrs so I am doing my best to drink plenty of fluids. This IS seeming to help. However I do have to say that w/in the 1st week I did have a UTI, I am not certain if this is related.
I have been one to MOST CERTAINLY get the "zaps" that people describe. To help other people relate I explain it like when you get the flu and it feels like u are "shocked" all over your skin. I have had mild w/d symptoms so far with minimal zaps, some trouble concentrating, mild insomnia that I use Melatonin to help with. However, as far as the forgetfulness.... hell, I couldn't tell u it was ALL b/c of the meds. Remember the part where I said I have 5 SONS and working on ex hub #2? That alone will eat ur brain I think.
I appreciate this article b/c I didn't consider the part where it was mentioned that if you have extreme w/d symptoms go back to the dosage u could tolerate and wait about 2wks. Extreme w/d for me would be the physical illness part. I haven't had that yet, although I DID have that on my 1st tapering attempt last year. I think that was too much of a cut too fast on the MD schedule.
Yes... it will take time to get off these pills but it took time to get HERE as well. Its hard for a person suffering from depression to understand the cliché everyone says about to "not give up". Because to be honest... that's EXACTLY what we WANT to do. My depression manifests as anger, so you don't have to always be sad and mopey to fit the depression title.
As someone who is walking this same path as many of you that will read this.... remember that there is NO cookie cutter way to do this. We are ALL different and will need different time lines. ITS OKAY. You don't expect every child to walk, talk, and wipe their own butt on the same timeline...right? THIS IS NO DIFFERENT!! BIG VIRTUAL HUGS.

@ichaso43
“I cut at 37.5 mg each week and my wk2 is 150mg.”
I believe that your taper is much too fast and your going to run into worse problems down the road. The fact that you are experiencing symptoms now is an indication your taper is too fast. Weekly is not giving your body enough time to adjust. Every month is a more realistic period to wait between cuts. However, if you are determined to taper weekly you should stay on the dose or slightly increase it until any withdrawals stop before continuing. But chances are more likely than not if your taper is slower you won't have any withdrawal symptoms. Taper withdrawals in the beginning are not usually noticeable but increase as your dose becomes lower, especially if you taper by a specific milligram every week. When specific milligrams are used the percentage at the start maybe 25% but as your taper continues that percentage will jump all over place. By using the 5-10% method the percentage remains constant, (which your brain prefers) regardless of where you are in the taper process. However, compounding pharmacies can get expensive especially if not covered by insurance. I use an injectable medication which is expensive because it has to be prepared at a sterile compounding pharmacy and not covered by insurance.
Although decreasing your taper slowly is no guarantee there won’t be any side effects it should reduce the chance and/or severity of them tremendously.
Best of luck to you and for you sake I hope you extend your taper substantially. I hope you will keep us informed as to the progress of your taper.
All the best,
Jake

I'm so scared to taper,I'm on 75mg of effexor xr for three months but I was in37.5for years,here in Canada we don't have the tablets so is difficult to taper into smaller dose I have to buy is compaund effexor that is going to be very expensive because compaund ndrugs does not cover by OHIP.Itook a loan from the bank to pay for Compaund effexor xr I want to start as soon as I feel stronger .Please somebody instruct me how to do it properly because my ok Dr.just gave five days no between tapers Wich I think is to little time he wants me to jump fron75mg to 37.5mg in five days I'm going to get into trouble that is why I got
icompaun